MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

7/8 Cubs lineup

Ryan Dempster is back, and will close the first half with a start Sunday against the Mets. Here’s the lineup:

Johnson CF

Castro SS

Rizzo 1B

Soriano LF

Baker RF

Soto C

Barney 2B

Valbuena 3B

Dempster P

– Carrie Muskat

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17 Comments

I don’t know if this is the place to post this but PLEASE DON”T TRADE ANY OF THESE PLAYERS right now especially Dempster and Garza. this team is starting to come around and why trade any of them. These are the best two pitchers that this team has had in awhile and now you want to trade them? I have seen something about LaHair too and hope that your not going to trade him either. I am a true believer that these guys could really do something in the second half.

lorrie, it is not about the second half of the season. It’s all about the FUTURE.
Dempster is 35 and one of the hottest pitchers at this moment, but he does not belong in the future of the Cubs. I’m a Dempster fan and I hate to see him go to another team, but he deserves a shot at something big before the end of his carreer. If we can trade him for a handfull of prospects and a 1st round pick. He’s a free agent at the end of the season, so by trading him now we get something in return while he’s hot.
Garza is a good pitcher but seems to have trouble adjusting to the NL. He was more effective in the AL East. He’s up for arbitration in next season and a FA the year after that, so it also would be good to get some more building blocks for the future Cubs.
As for LaHair, he’s a 1B and clearly not an outfielder. But with Rizzo at first and a bunch of good outfielders waiting in the minors (Jackson, Soler, Szczur), it will be hard to find a spot in the lineup for LaHair. So again… trade for prospects while he’s hot.

We are set at 1B, SS and 2B and that’s just about it. The entire outfield is WIDE OPEN for new players despite Hoystein’s acquistion of the mediocre DeJesus. 3B is a black hole and begs for a bigger bat, Catcher is pretty much the same, we can write up Soto as a near failure, Clevenger gave us some promise but has NOT nailed down the position. So….trade anybody except Castro, Rizzo, Barney, Samarzdja, Wood, Russel. We can’t be concerned about the second half of this season but as Blegian said, the FUTURE. In fact I hope Soriano and Baker are the first to go opening up a couple of spots for kids WITH a Cub future and with Baker gone Sveum won’t be tempted to pull a “Quade” and play him over a younger, more promising player that can hone his ML skills or correct deficiencies (LaHair vs. lefties i.e.) as Svuem has been doing of late because Baker is the THE MOST AWESOME RIGHT HANDED HITTER EVER….DUH!!!! He is not doing any good taking AB’s away from LaHair or Campana or any other outfielder that may be called up….Sveum needs to seperate the “winning now” (for naught) vs. READYING FOR THE TEAM FOR LATER!!!!

I’d agree with everything but Barney at 2B. I like Barney but his stats are nothing special. His defense is good but not special. I think the Walmart down the road has light hitting above average second-basemen on sale – buy 2 get 1 free.

I don’t have a problem with him staying, but he’s just an extra piece, not a core piece. Easy to find a replacement if needed.

Correct about Barney but I might add he should be the least of our problems if all other postions are filled CORRECTLY, what I mea is get the RBI’s from the proper postions such as 3B, LF, RF and 1B (and possibly catcher?) and any team would be happy to have a “Barney” at second base. I think his defense is very good and combined with his hustle and instincts his defense is indeed closer to special than good. I wouldn’t cry if he was replaced (Isabel???) but 2B has never been close to an issue needing to be addressed and shouldn’t be on Hoystein’s radar with much more pressing concerns.

Right on. But being the least of our problems if everything is filled correctly is by definition – a replaceable player. Not high on the priority list – but would we really miss a beat on a contending team if Valbuena or Baker replaced Barney? Probably not. Unless you have one of the rare stud offensive 2B’s – you just stick someone there.

Or move someone from SS. I think I’ve said too much. Nothing to see here. Move along. This message has already self-destructed.

OK RD….but just for the record if BAKER replaced Barney??? Yikes, we surely would notice THAT difference in defense. Valbuena seems to have his glove on the correct hand so that MIGHT be a wash but Valbuena would have to show a little more offense to make your case. Barney is still higher on the food chain than either Valbuena or Baker. I doubt Baker will be back next season.

Barney’s defense not special????? I can’t believe I read that! Are you
watching any of the games? Barney’s defense is EXCEPTIONALLY
PERFECT! 69 errorless games – EXCEPTIONALLY BEAUTIFUL CATCHES.
He goes after everything and gets it. I think he’ll “do” very well.

Yes RD, Barney’s defense in not special…. maybe you should take a look at the stats.
He leads the MLB in Fielding % (.997) and Put Outs (162) and fewest Errors (1), is 7th in Double Plays (52) and Total Chances (381), 8th in Range Factor (4.63) and 10th in Assists (218).
And if you take the same stats and only look at the NL he’s 1st in Fldg%, PO and Errors is 3th in DP, 4th in RF, 5th in TC and 6th in AST.
If he keeps that defense going he is one of the 3 candidates for a Gold Glove (the others being Infante, MIA and Walker, PIT).

Wow, there’s as much insane Barney love as there is insane Campana love. Given a choice between a good offense / average defensive player and a below average offense ./ above average defensive player, I’m taking the one that’s not Barney.
(the first one, in case you can’t tell). I like Barney, but calling him a CORE piece that you are building a FRANCHISE around… is insane. Nowhere did I say I don’t like Barney or don’t want to keep him. Save your insane Barney love for Thanksgiving at the Barney household. Don’t forget to bring mashed potatoes again.

Anyone who thinks Barney is a Franchise cornerstone type player is insane. I never said to get rid of him… pay attention. I said he’s not a CORE player. He is replaceable. Good gods some of you get irrationally attached to average and above-average players. I was unaware that Barney was on a HoF track for being a top THREE candidate for a Gold Glove award after HALF of a season.

Saying he’s not a core player is not the same as saying he sucks, or I want him kicked off the team. Just Wow.

rd, I agree with you man… I can’t stand reading some commentors in here. I will say though Barney will be on this unless we can throw him in a trade and get a haul back. Barney is cheap, efficient payroll. At this time we have no one as cheap or better to replace him so he is a piece of the puzzle. Until Barney becomes expensive or his defensive and offense combined slides, he will be on this team. Some of you guys are making him a shoe in for a GG but as much as you won’t admit it you need offensive production to get the GG. If Barney stays hot and can bring his numbers up some I believe he has a shot but if he declines offensively the way he has before Barney won’t even touch the top 5.

I guess there is something to see here RD, this has legs. But what I don’t see is any reference by any of us Barney “lovers” that Barney is a CORE player to build around…WHO stated that again? WHO mentioned HOF? Also, you are just wrong thinking Barney’s defense is (just) good and not special and that if Baker replaced Barney we wouldn’t notice a difference. Really? Baker’s defense vs. Barney’s wouldn’t be noticed? C’mon now THAT’s insane. That’s like saying we wouldn’t see a defensive improvement if a platoon of Johnson/Campana took over LF for the overly propped up Soriano. Yes, I know he has yet to make an error this season. Flukes of nature do happen as blind squirrels do eventually find a nut. I think us Barney backers are not OVERLY stating his capabilities, we know exactly what we have in Barney. A SMART, intuitive, VERY GOOD defensive secondbaseman with an ADEQUATE bat and good plate discipline. Defense has been overlooked far too long by the Cubs. Defense and pitching will win most games and help much more toward getting to the playoffs. The likes of Soriano, Bradley, and all the other “offensive” players with below average defense and bad instincts just are not going to cut it any more under the Hoystein regime. Barney is NOT the second coming of Ryne Sandberg and I don’t think any of these comments suggest such. This team will build around the CORE players Castro and Rizzo and Barney should be a part of that BUILDING, not part of the CORE.

WOW! Well let’s see. As far as anyone being irreplaceable – everyone is
replaceable. That being the case I think we do have several Franchise
cornerstone type players on our Cub’s team. AND I include Barney in this
category. Castro, Barney, Rizzo will be a huge line of defense for years to
come. 3rd base is up for grabs but I do like what I see in Valbueno. I
believe he will prove himself to be another great infield line of defense.

White, although I am a Barney backer I think you may be stretching things just a little when including Barney in the huge line of defense for years to come. Barney IS very good at 2B…but THAT good? He’s not on the same caliber of talent as Castro and Rizzo and may go down the same road as Theriot. GLAD WE HAVE HIM but he is admittedly more replacable than either Rizzo or Castro.

you can’t call Soriano’s defense a fluke anymore… a fluke is a month or two not half the season…. its called improvement and yes even an old dog can learn new tricks… keep on hatin’ tho joey… I am surprised hendry didn’t come up.

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